NYGIA News

A Houston man has admitted he helped supply cocaine to a notorious East Side gang.

Earl Brown Sr., 54, pleaded guilty to drug and money laundering charges, conceding he regularly provided multiple kilograms of cocaine – drugs that eventually made their way to Buffalo’s LRGP gang, according to federal authorities.

Brown’s guilty plea was announced Thursday by U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr.’s office.

Brown supplied cocaine to Franklin Richards – described by authorities as a major supplier to the LRGP gang. The cocaine was either shipped or transported by Brown from Texas. Richards pleaded guilty in March 2013 to federal charges of cocaine distribution.

Richards distributed the drugs to Dewayne Gray, the leader of the LRGP gang. Gray took a plea deal in March to racketeering conspiracy and admitted he was in charge of a gang connected to two murders. Those were the 2009 killing of Andre Anderson and the 2011 killing of Amir Chambers.

LRGP stands for Lombard, Rother, Gibson and Playter, the streets that bounded the area where the gang operated.

According to authorities, Gray processed much of the cocaine into crack cocaine, which gang members sold in the Broadway-Fillmore Avenue area on the city’s East Side.

Brown also admitted to money laundering. Authorities confiscated $112,000 at Buffalo Niagara International Airport in December 2012. That money was drug proceeds headed to Brown in Texas.

Brown pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo. He was arrested with seven other defendants, all of whom have been convicted, authorities said.

A reputed Brooklyn gang member was held without bail on drug charges after federal prosecutors produced chilling photos from his Instagram account suggesting he was preparing to avenge the murder of his best friend.

Nigel (Freaky) Sandy was seeking release on bail Wednesday — a day after the NYPD released a surveillance video depicting a “person of interest” in the April 20 fatal shooting of Harold (Buttah) Culler.

Sandy and Culler were allegedly members of a violent street gang called the Yung Gunnerz based in Bushwick, and both were co-conspirators in the heroin trafficking case, according to papers filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Culler, shot in the face and body on Hancock St., was Sandy’s best friend, as well as a “close gang ally.”

Nigel (Freaky) Sandy (r.) was seeking release on bail a day after the NYPD released a surveillance video depicting a possible suspect in the fatal shooting of Harold (Buttah) Culler.

Investigators monitoring Sandy’s Instagram account became alarmed by comments he posted three days after the slaying in which he expressed a desire for revenge.

“(Sandy) posted a photograph of himself and Culler in which the defendant is giving the middle finger and Culler is intimating that he has a gun in his hand,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lindsay Gerdes and David Pitluck said in court papers.

A Brooklyn man who authorities described as a member of the Sex, Money, Murder street gang was sentenced to 15 years in state prison Friday for firing a handgun at a woman in Midtown Kingston in October 2014.

Ulster County Judge Donald Williams sentenced Riis “Flea” Silver, 22, to the maximum sentence allowed by law, saying that despite the advantages of a supportive well-educated family, God-given intelligence and athletic prowess and being father to “a beautiful child,” Silver chose a life of violent crime and gang involvement.

“I see people every day in this court who don’t have those gifts ... those God-given grants of intelligence, family, athleticism and a child,” said Williams. “That makes what you did more tragic. You have no excuse for your behavior.”

After a three-day trial in Ulster County Court, Silver was convicted of two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of reckless endangerment.

Authorities said Silver fired seven shots from a .40-caliber semiautomatic weapon at the vehicle of a woman with whom he had had a relationship. Although the woman wasn’t struck, the vehicle she was driving was hit five times.

The sentencing followed a hearing during which Assistant Public Defender MariAnn Connolly tried to convince Williams that Silver was not a gang member.

Asked by Williams what Silver’s “SMM” tattoo symbolized, Connolly, after conferring with her client, said “Strength, Morality, Motivation.” Testimony during trial was that the tattoo stood for Sex, “Money, Murder.”

Williams also asked what the Silver’s five-pointed crown tattoo signified. Although the tattoo is known to be the symbol of the Latin Kings street gang, Connolly said her client indicated it stood for “King of Basketball. King of Brooklyn.

Connolly also said Silver didn’t recall filing a form with the Ulster County Jail indicating that he was affiliated with the Bloods.

Williams, though wasn’t buying it.

“You are clearly a member of the Sex, Money, Murder subset of the Bloods street gang,” said Williams.

He said Silver fired at the woman because “she was dissing you in front of your friends, probably your fellow gang members.”

He said the woman confronted Silver about stealing money that she had set aside for rent and “she embarrassed you, dissed you, humiliated you and your street cred.”

William said that when Silver was asked why he shot at the woman, Silver responded, “it’s a cold world.”

“It’s a cold world, sir, and you’re going to get a real flavor of that today,” Williams said.

On July 15, 2015, Silver pleaded guilty in Delaware to heroin sales and weapons possession. He was serving a four-year sentence on those charges when he was extradited to New York in September to face charges in Kingston.

It was July of 2009, at the corner of Townsend Street and Paderewski Drive, and Haugabook, only 19 at the time, was in the company of a female friend.

The man who murdered him, a member of the now dismantled Johnny Rounds Gang, said he targeted Haugabook because he considered him a rival gang member.

“I made some bad decisions in life,” DeMario Stewert told U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny.

Skretny sentenced Stewert to 18 years in prison Thursday.

At the time of Haugabook’s murder, Stewert and the rest of the Rounds Crew were feuding with a rival gang, LRGP, located just a few blocks away in the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood.

Stewert pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy but, as part of his plea deal, admitted shooting and killing Haugabook. He said he considered Haugabook a member of LRGP and shot him because of his affiliation with the rival gang.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel L. Violanti said Stewert came from a strong supportive family and yet turned to a life on the streets and a gang that eventually led him into a life of drug dealing and violence.

“That’s the sad part of this case," Violanti said.

Investigators from the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force say the Rounds Crew controlled marijuana sales in the neighborhood for years and used violence to protect its turf from rival drug dealers.

Johnny Rounds, 36, the acknowledged leader of the East Side gang, has admitted taking part in three murders and will face a recommended sentence of up to 25 years in prison when Skretny sentences him.

BUFFALO, NY: Two young men were killed in a hail of gunfire while sitting in a parked car on Fillmore Avenue, Buffalo police said.

“One of the victims from last night’s homicide suffered 11 gunshot wounds and was still able to get out of the car and ask for help,” a police source said.

A passer-by drove Norman Fullenweider, 19, of Buffalo to Erie County Medical Center, where he died Saturday, police said.

Jermaine Moss, 21, of Buffalo was found dead in the parked car.

The killings marked the third and fourth homicides in nine days related to conflicts among street gangs, police said. The names of the victims were released late Saturday.

What is known is that Fullenweider and Moss were parked in a car in the 1200 block of Fillmore Avenue and one or more gunmen opened fire on them at about 6:10 p.m., police said.

“We believe they are gang members and this was gang-related,” a second police source said.

“They were sitting in a Pontiac Grand Am when they were shot. One of them died at the scene and the other, who suffered multiple gunshots, died later.”

A week ago Thursday, 29-year-old Jonathan Jones was killed in the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood.

Police arrested 15-year-old Avonte Works on Monday and charged him with second-degree murder for that killing.

Police said the teen shot Jones at 8:15 p.m. Oct. 22 in a parking lot in an area of Fillmore Avenue and Peckham Street.

Works’ family and acquaintances said he was defending himself against area gang members who were attacking him.

Authorities continue to investigate the killing, but have confirmed the incident was gang-related.

Last Monday afternoon, Joseph Daniels, 18, was shot at Broadway and Woltz. He was later pronounced dead at ECMC. A second person shot with Daniels was later released from the hospital. Police are still looking for that killer.

As for the latest shooting, homicide detectives continue to search for the killer or killers. Anyone with information can call the police confidential tip line at 847-2255.

Two funeral-goers died and four others were wounded in the shootout, which officials said was sparked by a 20-year-old beef between mourners at the Emmanuel Church of God on Flatbush Avenue near Foster Avenue in Kensington.

Mourners had gathered for the funeral of José “Cheo” Robles, a member of the Bloods gang, law-enforcement sources said at the time.

Celestine allegedly sparked the violence by confronting Sharieff Clayton, 40, who was sent to jail for manslaughter in 1994, sources told The Post.

Clayton shot back, “You better get out of here; there’s going to be trouble!”

Celestine then allegedly left the church and returned in a silver car, fatally pumping a bullet in Clayton’s abdomen, police sources said.

Ronald Murphy, 44, of Brooklyn dove in front of his wife, Taisha, to shield her from the flying bullets — and was fatally struck in the chest, law-enforcement sources said.

Murphy had not been an intended target, officials said.

Two other men and two women were wounded in the gunplay.

One of the women was Murphy’s wife, despite her husband’s heroics, law-enforcement sources said.

Still, he may have saved her from more serious injuries, they said.olice on Friday arrested Pierre Celestine, 35, charging him with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — After two more fatalities from gun violence in Buffalo which claimed the lives of two young men, ages 19 and 21, community members are speaking out about increasing tensions between numerous neighborhood gangs.

“We now have a very good insight of what’s about to happen,” said Pastor James Giles, the coordinator for the Buffalo Peacemakers. “It doesn’t look good. It’s very ugly.”

The Buffalo Peacemakers are a community group that goes out into neighborhoods, establishing relationships with members and hoping to curb violence and crime.

“It saddens us that we couldn’t muster whatever is required to get to them; to save them,” said Pastor Giles about the most recent group of young victims. He recalls looking into the eyes of each victim who has died in the last few weeks; remembering moments he shared with them.

Pastor Giles says there are around 35 murders that have happened in Buffalo so far this year, a number that is slightly down from this time last year.

He has a real fear though that four of the most recent murders are all connected.

“You’re seeing some of the retaliations from some of that stuff that’s being done,” said Pastor Giles who adds that these young men involved in the gangs are looking for money and turning to robbing each other which is part of the reason tension is running high right now.

He said the only way to curb that rising tension is to get into the neighborhoods and meet with these members. The hard part is, according to Pastor Giles, these gangs members are getting younger and younger, now in the early teens, and the pastor said sometimes it is too late to build strong relationships with them because they’re already getting into trouble.

“If we had enough resources, we could address the problems were having,” said Pastor Giles. “The violence is an outcry of something else.”

The Peacemaker coordinator said all of these connected murders happening to young men he knows in neighborhoods he frequents concerns and saddens him and everyone in these communities.

“They’re [these gang members] not bad,” said Pastor Giles. “They’re just misguided, misdirected and have this very poor sense of morality when it comes to taking a life. In some cases, it’s like a game to some of them. But this isn’t a game where people are getting up after they’re getting blasted.”

The bloody rivalry between Buffalo’s 7th and 10th Street gangs is sending two more gang members to prison.

Kasiem Williams, 26, a former 7th Street Gang member, admitted taking part in several gang shootings, including the murder of Virgil Page, as part of a plea deal this week. Williams shot and killed Page on 19th Street in June of 2010.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph M. Tripi said Page’s murder was part of a “favor for a favor” deal that another 7th Street member made with Efrain “Cheko” Hidalgo, leader of the 7th Street Gang.

In return, 7th Street member Leslie Cunningham, 44, promised to kill two rival 10th Street members. Cunningham, who claims he was also targeted for murder, admitted Thursday to shooting at two rival gang members and wounding one of them during a June 2010 incident at a corner store on Virginia Street.

As part of a plea agreement accepted by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara, Cunningham pleaded guilty to attempted murder in aid of racketeering.

A Rochester man pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday in connection with a bloody Buffalo gang war.

Leslie Cunningham, 44, pleaded guilty to attempted murder in aid of racketeering, a felony, in front of U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. The charge carries a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Kasiem Williams, 26, of Buffalo and Sammy Ortiz, 28, of Buffalo each pleaded guilty to racketeering, or RICO, conspiracy. Both were members of Buffalo's 7th Street Gang.

Among other acts of violence, Williams shot and killed Virgil Page in June 2010 in Buffalo. Page was a drug rival of Cunningham.

In return, Cunningham promised to kill two rival 10th Street Gang members. He admitted to shooting at two and wounding one of them during a June 2010 shooting on Virginia Street in Buffalo.

Arcara will sentence Cunningham at 12:30 p.m. Feb. 3, 2016.

A total of 18 defendants have been charged in this case and 12 have been convicted.

A reputed MS-13 street gang member wanted for allegedly killing a teenager in Roosevelt 13 years ago was apprehended this spring after he fled the country, Nassau County prosecutors said.

Wuilmer “Chicky” Mendosa was arrested May 5 when he tried to re-enter the country on a flight from a flight from El Salvador to Texas. He was extradited to Long Island this week, where he was indicted on a charge of second-degree murder.

“This defendant fled the country immediately after the crime and now, after nearly 13 years, we have finally have him back in Nassau County, where he is going to face justice,” said Acting Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas.

Prosecutors said the 32-year-old suspect shot Johnathan Harris, who had just celebrated his 18th birthday five days earlier, after Mendosa and others asked the victim if he was a member of a rival gang, to which Harris replied, “No,” on Oct. 24, 2002.

The victim was pronounced dead shortly after the shooting. The suspects fled the scene.

Judge Teresa Corrigan ordered Mendosa held without bail. He faces up to 25 years in prison, if convicted. He is due back in court on Oct. 21.